A locals visit to New York City.

We arrived to JFK airport by 6am and were on Ziv’s front door step by 7. I didn’t sleep a wink on the plane and was a little worried if I’d greet Manhattan with a sleepless attitude. I met Ziv, Stark’s coworker, for the first time with a consistent knock to his door, a phone call or two, and then a half awake kiss-kiss to each cheek. It wasn’t long before we set all greetings aside so Stark and I could pull out his couch and sleep at least a few hours. I’ve decided I’m too old for the red eye. Seriously… old.

Below: Stark and I sleepy eyed at the SLC airport for our red eye; the morning view from Ziv’s apartment; just some amazing graffiti and one of the many things I love about NYC.

Ziv woke us up around noon with tea and the excitement of going to brunch. I love brunch. I love the whole entire concept of brunch and brunch in New York, on a weekend, means that it runs til 3pm! Ziv, Ali, Stark and I went to brunch at a nice little place called Public. It was the end of the brunch rush so it was quiet, not many people were there and there was a cool breeze from the open garage door. Stark and I loved the industrial feel and I was completely obsessed with the library-inspired design. The menus were made to look like library cards and were stored in old library boxes that only us old people understand how to use (prior to computers and the whole concept of “search”).

Ziv has lived in Alphabet City now for a couple years so he is an expert on the lower east side. After brunch we roamed through the lower avenues, alphabet city and parts of soho. We walked inside random shops and he told us about a dozen different neighborhood gardens before taking us to see Chika at Chikalicious.

Chika is an amazing chef who specializes in desserts (seen above). That little green thing in the top left corner of the photo is BASIL sorbet. Who would have thought? The sorbet was delicious and the ice cold bite was much needed. NYC is HOT right now! Literally… temperature hot. The three of us all had something different and traded plates regularly. Chika is a hot chef in NYC and not always there. She has a second dessert shop in Tokyo. But this particular day she was there and three small desserts were upwards of $100 when paired with an appropriate drink. Still, the experience was wonderful and Chika was a pleasant, happy person who really made her desserts into small, edible pieces of art.

We continued our adventure through the streets of NYC, walking for hours – stopping at random, crazy stores to try on some hats (above), walking through the park, meeting Ziv’s neighbors at a bar he frequents, and then home to get ready for evening plans. As you can see (pictures above) our bed, albeit comfortable when as exhausted as we were, was about six inches too short and I’m not that tall of a person! But taking a short break before the evening was much needed as I had no idea what I was getting into that night. We bought tickets to an interactive play called Sleep No More and the more I heard about it, the more skeptical I became.